Alexander Stubb starts his state visit to Estonia today, Monday. In addition to the capital Tallinn, the president and his spouse will also visit the southern university city of Tartu.
TALLINN Estonian singer and MP Luisa Rõivas congratulates Finns on a good choice.
Alexander Stubb is, according to him, an open and international president, and also a great friend of Estonia.
– As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I hope that the security policies of Estonia and Finland will move more closely together from now on and that the slightly different relationship with Russia will go down in history, says Rõivas.
The former Prime Minister of Estonia Taavi Rõivasen as a spouse, Luisa Rõivas has met Stubb personally several times.
Rõivas describes the president as very open and friendly also as a person.
– And personally, I like the fact that he is very athletic and that his sport is specifically triathlon, Rõivas, who passed the first triathlon of his life three years ago, smiles.
The Rõivaks’ relationship with the Stubbie family was at its closest 9–10 years ago, when both Taavi Rõivas and Stubb were prime ministers and Stubb later the finance minister.
Then the Rõivaks’ son also happened to be born.
– Our son is named after Stubb. Herman and Aleksander are the names of his grandfathers. But when Taavi had a lot to do with Alexander, it was decided that the name would be spelled with an x, Rõivas laughs.
37-year-old Luisa Rõivas has been to Finland a lot, but her short trip abroad is also connected to Finland.
– I think I was in the second or third grade. My father took me with him on a business trip, but I thought we would stay in Helsinki for about an hour. Father just went to pick up some document, Rõivas recalls.
Business manager: as a person, Stubb is even a stud
Director of Tallink Silja Group SpongeBob Nõgene tells that he has liked all the Finnish presidents he can remember.
– They have been valuable, wise and have always defended their country with direct words. Stubb is an articulate and European president, good to continue the work of President Niinistö.
As a person, according to Nõgene, Stubb is “one could even say a stud” by trying to get out of the frames that the presidential institution and protocol perhaps set.
– I hope that he remains human until the end. The president is a person and a person is the president, Nõgene says.
He describes the relationship between Estonia and Finland as very good. Nõgene hopes it will deepen even more.
– We live in geopolitically difficult times and we both need good friends. I hope it’s mutual.
44-year-old Nõgene’s own relationship with Finland goes back to her childhood. Finland was a wow country for him, where dreams came true.
– My earliest memory related to Finland is related to my father, whom I went to meet at the port. He came ashore with his friend carrying a color TV between them, Nõgene laughs.
The researcher needs more grassroots level
Journalist and historian Maarja Merivoo-Parro is currently researching Estonians’ relationship with Finland in the 1980s and 1990s. According to him, Alexander Stubb is also the right man.
– In my opinion, her energy, courage and strength reflect her. And guts. If necessary, he will plunge, if necessary, he will run a marathon, Merivoo-Parro reflects.
In the current political situation, they are very good qualities, he adds.
Merivoo-Parro welcomes Finland to NATO, where, according to him, Estonians have longed for Finland.
– Now that the Finnishization is officially over, hopefully our cooperation will be even closer. I especially miss cultural relations and public diplomacy, which there was a lot of at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s.
One way to increase communication is language. According to 38-year-old Maarja Merivoo-Parro, it’s cool how similar the Estonian language and the Finnish language are.
– If Estonians learned some Finnish and Finns some Estonian, then there would be no need for interpreters or English anymore, Merivoo-Parro dreams.